lost in a sea of sound

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Surrounding all of us are chemical elements, in plain view or unseen until civilization's hands cultivate their use. Boron and Argon take sound shape here on this Tymbal Tapes release titled Mirages. Dan Nelson has taken both of these periodic table project names and delivered a most astounding sonic montage. From deep within the Earth's crust or in the atmosphere abundantly above, sounds gently and perfectly collide at mass consciousness level.

Mirages is an "almost" blank canvas for the mind. Each track neither black or white and always sparsely populated with broken lines or faint intricate patterns. As the aural landscape unfolds, each listener's imagination most willingly engages. Filling the vistas with thoughts provoked by the spirits connection with the tonal array. Lengthy journeys, changed in direction by seemingly short interludes, constitute the framework of Mirages. Like a court jester on a far away planet, Boron/Argon's goal is for amusement and wonder, but is never silly or frivolous. Delicacy stepping back and with the wave of a hat, ushering in it's droning and pulsating counterpart. Boron and Argon each taking stage, heavy vibrations disrupting an ethereal vacuum. Both assimilating into a new and undiscovered compound.

Released in May of this year on Tymbal Tapes in an edition of seventy five. Boron/Argon was part of the four cassette bundle in available in July. Every release on this labels sell out quickly, but fortunately Mirages is still available from the label's bandcamp page. Unfortunately the July bundle is not. Good news.... The Tymbal Tape recorders are heated up this year. A three cassette bundle just came out in September and is currently available. And.... A mid October batch is scheduled as well.

A small snowball begins tumbling down the mountainside. Rhythmic in motion, natural revolutions forced by gravity and molecular adhesion. Trees in the path disrupt this iconic picture, but only for a brief moment. Emerging again, intact and dancing down the slope. The cadence interrupted as the sphere takes flight, plunging from cliff side outcroppings. Drums beat in some majestic tribute, like the moment a ski jumper leaves earth. Almost quiet, the atmosphere the only friction, this journey is now in ambient fluidity. The peril of approaching density, earth and it's spawn connecting again, eventually dissolving like all existence.

Desert Center is a sonic heavy, filled with deep rumbling tones and introspective radiance. C.J. Boyd and John Horner both playing an assortment of bass and drums. You, Unfamiliar is two side long compositions totaling close to forty five minutes. Both sides run the complete course, beautiful gaits that crash to the ground, then slowly recovering in a dreamy daze. Extremely patient and controlled use of percussion and strings. Beautiful fluidity that never crest above the desired markers. Near the end of the second side titled "Rattletrap", the crescendo is subdued by a final flurry of bass and drums. You, Unfamiliar adheres to it's title, avoiding any real classifications, emerging on fresh ground.

C.J. Boyd and John Horner were recorded by Aaron Oppenheim and mastered by Andrew Weathers. Much love and experience going into entire process. The final product released on the Personal Archives label in the spring of 2017 in an edition of one hundred. Copies are available from the labels bandcamp page. Really listen to this, skimming just won't do.

Lost In A Sea Of Sound is a one person project. Headquarters are at the end of a dirt road. During Hurricane Irma, a big pine branch fell on the transformer supplying the end houses on the road. Since the fix would only restore power to a few homes, priority was on the lower side. The communication from the power company to the excellent linemen who traveled here to help was dismal. Ten days of heat and humidity... then a new transformer was installed. After the awesome line crew from North Louisiana fixed the power, the cable company required four more days to get an internet connection established.

Back up now. Have some descriptions of music done. Just need to get those typed in. For anyone that emailed me, i will get to those as well. Thanks for being patient.

Keeping this in perspective... no where near as bad as places in Texas, South Florida and of course Puerto Rico and the eastern Caribbean.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Millions of sound eddies swirling in a placid and static sea. Each one creating a unique vortex for strange frequencies to be heard. Everything evaporates towards the world above. Notes reverberate from the wings of mechanical humming birds as they siphon the vast array of turbulent wash. An organic infinity pool being drained by the most delicate robotic creations. A yin yang expose of two sonic worlds orbiting each other.

This Love Letter composition arrives without delay, burning full force as it sustains itself just above the surface. A Very Young Mountain is divided into four parts and clocks in right around twenty minutes. Music resembling closely viewed images of the suns surface both rhythmic and chaotic, making a mesmerizing spectacle. Samples of recorded voice are interjected in enough amounts, tethering the turning dial to something understandable. All together these sounds burn through the void of unseen energy collecting unbounded currents in the din of noise.

Love Letter stays on course with A Very Young Mountain, sounds similar to earlier cassettes on Rok Lok Recores. These two tapes were described on Lost In A Sea Of Sound last year. Here is the link to It Brought Us Something We Had to Know & Gentle Memories if you would like to read and hear more. Both are still available in limited quantities.

A Very Young Mountain was released in May of this year in an edition of forty.

Trails is a tightly woven journey into the consciousness of Kevin McVey. His project Anevayblue maintains feelings of distance and separation. Almost tribal in essence, Trails has a shamanic cantor. Distorted vocals sustained in long lengths, evoke twilight spirits. Anevayblue seems to scorch the sound spectrum, leaving tones outlying the charred remains.

This composition arrives in just about a half hour and is divided into six tracks. The tones and tempo blur through both sides. Songs seem to hiss as these sounds cook under heavy radiation. The haunting vocals recall past existences, like Trails is some deteriorated remnant from eons ago. Kevin sings with a forlorn hope as the music seems to span decades of time. Early punk music rusted, corroded and playing half as fast. This cassette reminded me of a record I purchased back in 2010. The New Zealand Eels with the lp Sunken on Emerald Cocoon. Both Trails and Sunken have stirring vocals and overloaded music. Heavy affairs for loud volumes.

Released on Rok Lok Records in an edition of forty. Trails surfaced in March of this year and copies are currently available. Check the label out for this cassette and other cool stuff.

Friday, September 1, 2017

Settle in for the dense drone offering of Channelers. This is the fourth time Lost In A Sea Sound has described a Channelers composition. All four releases brought to our ears by the Inner Islands label. Faces of Love, the newest composition, is two side long tracks approaching forty minutes in length. The sounds connect meditative emptiness with tangible properties. A tempo like restful breathing, droning notes rising and falling. Moving across the surface tension of sound, notes glide then stop like Nepomorpha dancing on a cohesive force.

Faces of Love builds only so much throughout its unfolding. An intentional component in it's composing, since this is more a rich medium for the listener. Thoughts are gently coerced to expand like cumulus cloud edges building as they move through the atmosphere. The first side "Always Been", has the sustained opening of an Indian morning raga. There is classic timber to the instruments used, connecting decades of spiritual focus. The second side "Pressure Sigh", maintains strength and finding a new clarity. More modern in resonance, taking the listener back to Eno's subtle "Music fo Airports". Each side balances the other making Faces of Love two very distinct pleasures to enjoy.

Released in late July on Inner Islands in an edition of seventy five. This is music by Sean Conrad and art by Rosa Beach-Mason. Channelers is heavy substance simultaneously sounding so ethereal. This combination appeals to many, all Channeler's earlier releases on Inner Islands are sold out. Please do not miss out on Faces of Love, it could be the best one so far.

ZOD1AC running sounds through a medium of sticky honey. Slowly flowing together, beats and ambient serenity blurring definitions. The overall vibe is uplifting, tones balanced for consciousnesses to drift and severe tethers from monotonous motions. Grooves bobbing in the swells of a droning sea. ZOD1AC has a mastery of beat patience and delivers perfect proportions.

THE ZOD1AC TAPES VOLUME 1 runs course just under a half hour, composed of sixteen tracks. A well constructed variation of short vignettes and longer endeavors. ZOD1AC takes a vibrant world of beats and expertly filters out the chatter. The sounds seem to emanate from a dense molecular environment. Like hip hop whale songs, this collection is a modern lullaby in an unexplored world.

Joe Maas is the creative force behind ZOD1AC. He also has projects under Zander One. I read on a recent facebook post from Joe he is a contributor to the newly formed music venue, Joyful Union Cassette Blog. Welcome to describing sounds with words! Here is a really good post by Tommy Faith from the Australian music blog Sound Doctrine. Some thoughts on blogs with words describing sounds vs. the trend towards the music podcast style.

Circling back to the label behind THE ZOD1AC TAPES VOLUME 1, Bonding Tapes. This is their nineteenth release in just under three years. The label consistently explores the undercurrents of creativity. Focusing in specific sounds, bringing them forth with care and love. ZOD1AC has a really beautiful cassette here, don't miss out.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Decades back when music seemed to stagnate, pop sounds tangled with needed creativity. Somberness or seriousness worked in on the edges, destroying the world of catchy jingles and sing along lyrics. Production began to rely upon mindful individuals not cookie cutter labels. True emotion seeped to the top, making music a statement of fantastic thoughts. Ylayali has delivered temporal piercing configuration, finding roots in the past and growing far into the future.

YY is eight homespun highly precise tracks. Fran Lyons is the creative force behind everything we hear and see. I would assume Fran's witty humor penned the craigslist post accompanying this as the description of this cassette. Ylayali approaches the sound spectrum in the most casual manner. Songs unfold with depth and complexity using varying arrays of sonic turbulence. Introspective to the point of wondering how difficult this was to publish. YY takes feelings and artistic style, laying all out for the world to hear. This is what makes uniquely excellent music, but at the same time must be a huge wall to traverse. Listen and be subdued into the underground currents of Ylayali.

This cassette was released in an edition of fifty in July of this year. Lily Tapes & Discs from Rochester, New York has copies of yy available. Fran had a previous split on Lily Tapes & Discs with Lung Cycles titled the same ylayali / lung cycles. This cassette is a couple of years old and is sold out.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

A companion tape to the Like Author, Like Daughter lp on Whited Sepulchre Records. You can get this as an addition when ordering the record. Two track split, Sister Grotto & Tucker Theodore on side A) with "I Don't Want To Love" and Planning For Burial on side B) with "Astrid".

Both pieces climb from lonely depths, sounds building to beautiful crescendos. Tones and tempo are similar between the artists. Sister Grotto & Tucker Theodore using a slightly wider array of sonic wizardry while Planning For Burial stays subdued and focused. This split is Whited Sepulchre Records sonic barbiturate. Take it with, when you are away from the lp. Goes down effortlessly and is time released. These artists hit heavy with vast experience and creativeness.

You can listen to this on Sister Grotto's bandcamp page. As noted earlier, physical copies available with the record purchase. In an edition of one hundred.

Fuzzed and seared guitar becoming something in between. Folk or pop, ambient haze dipping and droning, somehow these melodies sound familiar, yet distant. Whispery haunted vocals move through Like Author, Like Daughter, resembling clouds seen billowing below mountain perches. These were happy songs, gathering dust from never being played for such long time. Now they burn through the decay of time, emitting gentle beauty as the notes slice through nostalgic residue.

Midwife is Madeline Johnston who also composes as Sister Grotto. Her newest lp Like Author, Like Daughter floats like a bird flying into a head wind. It seems impossible not to be blown back, evolution has many mysteries. Midwife cruises through a volatile medium, distorted guitar combined with disintegrating vocals all played in a sleep state cadence. Together these attributes create the soft roar of dense air. Molecules moving in the opposite direction, pushing against the focus of Madeline Johnston's sound. With skill, experience and creativity, Like Author, Like Daughter hovers with it's own fantastic mystery. Consciousnesses become transfixed as each track seemingly remains motionless. Delicate and delightful harmony woven with words torn from silk strands. A composition connecting beginning and end blurring moments into one emotion. Unnoticed beauty having sounds for unfurling and floating through new thoughts. Like Author, Like Daughter is special.

There is a lot of talent in the construct of Like Author, Like Daughter. Madeline Johnston worked with Tucker Theodore who also performed, recorded and co-produced this work. Multiple recording venues then mastered in another space. Landing at White Sepulchre Records for a beautiful vinyl presentation. The label took so much care with this as with the their preceding releases. There is an option to purchase a split cassette with the lp as well. The tape includes Planning for Burial on one side split with Sister Grotto and tucker Theodore on the other. Looks like this is only available as an addition when purchasing the vinyl. The big note to note is how limited both vinyl and cassette are, only one hundred. Much commotion from bandcamp page so do not wait on this.